The camera loves her freshness, the sweet expression on her face and the clueless gesture. Belén Cuesta, at 39 years of age, has become one of the most interesting actresses on the national scene, both on screen and on the tables of a theater. “I like being on different stages and trying all kinds of formats and genres,” she admits.
A champion of feminism, the Goya-winning actress has played strong and empowered women on screen such as Belén, her character in Kiki el amor se hace, or Bárbara Rey in the recent series Cristo y Rey. A few days after celebrating International Women’s Day, the actress is undoubtedly one of the great feminist references in the world of cinema and fights with the name that has been made in this industry to end gender stereotypes. “Women have to stop being just sex in fiction,” she declared during an interview.
The play La llamada (2013) propelled her to stardom and on the big screen she has starred in comedies such as Eight Catalan surnames (2015) or A boyfriend for my wife (2022) and historical dramas such as The infinite trench, in 2019. Although she does not know the exact moment in which she decided to be an actress ensures that the vocation has accompanied her since she was a child. Her father taught her to approach show business with humility and to rise through hard work. “He told me: do what you want and strive to do it to the best of your ability even if you’re not going to be the best at it,” she recalls.
2022 has been a year of a lot of work for Cuesta and the coming months are set to be a golden age: he has premiered one of the series that arouses the most media interest, Christ and the King, but it will also appear in Balenciaga and in Romancero, a Prime series Video that just finished filming.
From each of these projects he treasures a special memory, however the first, in which he gives life to Bárbara Rey, has been his greatest interpretive challenge. “When you play someone who exists there is an added vertigo. It is the challenge of trying to be as faithful as possible to the character but without falling into obsession and being able to work freely on your interpretation”, explains the Sevillian interpreter.
To prepare for the role, he tells that he spoke at length with the famous Spanish star. “She is a wonderful woman. She has been a great discovery for me as a woman, an actress and an artist. She is very strong, powerful and tough and behind the well-known character, who I feel is very alien to me, there is a very sensitive and familiar woman with whom I have found many points in common”, she confesses, adding that in Rey the fragmentation between characters and person is very clear.
Asked about what field of interpretation she still has to conquer, this multidisciplinary actress does not close doors and despite the fact that for her it is more a question of projects than genres, she confesses that she would love to do comedy again, but also repeat in a dramatic role with directors such as the Moriarti trio -Jose Mari Goenaga, Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi- directors of La trenchera infinita and with whom he has just worked at Balenciaga.
On the crest of the wave in the professional field, Cuesta is in a vital moment of stopping and relativizing. “I am calmer than at other times in my life. In this profession there is always the fear of not being in the present and seeing it when it has already happened ”, she assures her and recognizes that perhaps because of age she is more comfortable and relaxed.
In fact, the same thing happens in his relationship with the world of fashion and especially in galas and ceremonies. “At first she made me very nervous on the red carpets because of what they would say, but I have learned not to suffer so much and relativize it. In the end it’s not you and you don’t dress like that in your day to day and I value it more from an artistic point of view. At the Goyas, for example, they made me a beautiful dress in which I felt good, ”she admits.
Regarding the intense and unfortunate scrutiny to which the actress Berta Vázquez was subjected on social networks, and asked about how she manages hate on the networks, Cuesta says she lives very oblivious to the opinions of Internet users and warns that giving voice to that kind of attitudes is what gives them power.
After succeeding on screen and in theaters, the Sevillian actress does personal introspection: “I’m demanding of myself and now when I analyze my projects I try to be more benevolent.”
Away from red carpets, Cuesta likes the peace of a long breakfast at home reading the newspaper, but also the hustle and bustle of a meal with friends on a Sunday. “I’m very into meetings at home,” he confesses with that naturally carefree air so his.
